Dismissal Of The Australian Government, 1975

By Andrew Mueller, June 7, 2008

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The footage shot on the steps of Parliament House, Canberra, on November 11 1975 comes close to having the resonance for Australians that the film of John F. Kennedy's assassination has for Americans.

The sacking of the Gough Whitlam Labor government by the governor-general (the Crown's representative in Australia) still fuels books, films and conspiracy theories. It also inspired the most famous speech in Australian history.

After governor-general Sir John Kerr's secretary, the diminutive David Smith, concluded Whitlam's firing with the vice-regal sign-off "God save the Queen", Whitlam bustled his silver-haired, 6ft 6in frame to the microphone. "Well may we say 'God save the Queen'," thundered the decommissioned PM, "because nothing will save the governor-general."

Whitlam, personally brilliant and charismatic, politically naive and quixotic, had been elected in 1972 after 23 years of Liberal (ie conservative) rule. But though re-elected in 1974, Labor lost its majority. This gave the Liberals, led by Malcolm Fraser - "Kerr's cur" as Whitlam later called him - the ability to block funds to the government. Whitlam refused to call an election. Fraser wouldn't let the government govern. After weeks of stand-off, Kerr exercised his prerogative to dissolve the administration. Fraser was installed as prime minister.

"Maintain the rage," Whitlam urged his supporters. They didn't. At the election held a month later, Labor was trounced, though this ended neither the argument nor the consequences. The Dismissal (in Australia, it warrants capitalisation) made a martyr-saint of Whitlam, now 91 (Editor's note: this article was written 6 years ago), even if much of his premiership had a whiff of farce about it.

Fraser, three years younger, served as prime minister until 1983. The widely loathed Kerr, who died in 1991, made another lasting contribution to Australian folklore with a sensationally inebriated performance presenting the 1977 Melbourne Cup.

The Dismissal remains a bedrock of modern republicanism - a movement that may finally win the day during the rule of Australia's new Labor prime minister, Kevin Rudd.

Rudd has some powerful allies. In the 1999 referendum on republic versus constitutional monarchy, Whitlam and Fraser, by all accounts now good mates, campaigned together for the "yes" vote. (The voters rejected it.)